Legend of Alon D'Ar: History Of The Floating World

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Well, a little history and a little anthropology, as we meet this fantasy world's past and present.

By IGN Staff

This may come as a bit of a surprise to some, but the coming week will feature a daily look at Legend of Alon D'ar, Stormfront Studios' upcoming PS2 RPG due to be published by Ubi Soft. Alon D'ar isn't the highest-profile RPG, on a system where fans' imaginations are dominated by thoughts of Xenosaga and Final Fantasy, but Stormfront has put plenty of time into a complex cast, backstory, and fantasy world to host its adventure, and so we'll be bringing you daily looks at the various aspects of all that background, along with art, screenshots, prolifericious tidbits of data, and all that other good stuff.

Today, we'll have a look at the history and peoples of the Floating World, the sundered mix of lands that serves as the backdrop for Alon D'ar's story. There's more than a little backstory that sets up the events of the adventure proper, so study up here in anticipation of exploring the world for yourself.

The Races

The Sarojin have surmised that: most domestic beasts evolved naturally; the dragonets are most certainly Chandarath life forms; and such things as the Bat-Ears, Tengus, Lurkers and other monstrosities were likely creations of the Chandarath. However, the Sarojin themselves are responsible for the creation of the Darkfell.

The Elzar The Elementals of Chandar. The Elzars are an extremely ancient race.

Each type of Elzar has enormous control over the Wyrd inherent in that element only. Thus the Elzar of the earth have almost total mastery of rock and solid ground, but nothing else. The Elzar of ice have mastery over ice, but only limited control of liquid water. The Elzar of lava have mastery over lava, but minimal control over fire.

The Elzar divided themselves into the three "clans": M'TON = rock elementals, P'GOK = lava elementals, K'TIK = ice elementals. Their inherent natures have kept the three branches of the Elzar from working together or forming alliances. They have a natural antipathy for one another, especially the P'Gok and K'Tik."Clan" is a fairly meaningless term for such beings. They have no specific gender and cannot propagate as such. To bring a new elemental into being, all the Elzar of the same clan must combine and use the powers of the wyrd. This is extremely difficult and has resulted in the numbers of Elzar remaining quite low.

They don't take individual names for themselves. Even the clan names they've adopted have more to do with the sound that is most familiar with them: the g'pok of lava bubbles bursting or the k'tik of ice cracking. Ask any M'Ton who he is, and he will answer, "I am M'Ton." Identity and clan is all the same to them. Of the 3 clans, the M'Ton seem to have achieved the highest level of sophistication. They have been known to work with an outside race on rare occasion and have a strong, underlying sense of justice. They are the only Elzar who have attempted to remember the past, by crystals which they grow and infuse with patterns of the Wyrd which allows the crystals to capture moments of memory. Without the crystals, however, the M'Ton have trouble thinking much beyond the immediate moment.

The P'Gok and K'Tik are more chaotic and show no interest in helping other species. They care only about the shaping or nurturing of their specific element, and the defense of their territory. Their consciousness is of the present; they don't think about the past or future.

The Sarojin Sarojin have long lifespans, reaching their prime at about 120 years, and often living up to 200 years.

The Kemarr As the Orin struggled for survival, a division occurred between a group of ex-gladiators who were seeking to control the destiny of the survivors of their race. Some of the ex-gladiators were men and some were women. The women intended to continue training their daughters as warriors. The men objected, saying there was a shortage of women and they were needed for breeding. Offended by this attitude, the women-warriors gathered up the families who sided with them and attempted to leave peaceably. They were forced to fight their way free and retreated far into the grasslands.

There they established themselves as nomads, under the leadership of a Matron, the oldest and most respected of the women-warriors, chosen by free vote. Not wishing to be associated in any way with the Orin they left behind, they called themselves the Kemarr after this first Matron, KEMARRIANA. All the lands of the Kemarr are called The Kemarran Highlands. Over time, the tribe of the Kemarr has resolved itself into three class divisions: the Windsingers, the Moonclaws, and the Guildsmen.

The Windsingers of the Kemarr are the shamans and magic-users. Only a woman may be granted this rank. When a girl shows special talent for using the Wyrd, and does not seek to be a warrior, she is trained to be a Windsinger, using the Wyrd to ensure the health and safety of the highlands and the tribe. The Windsingers are the only Kemarrans who can create the Tattoos of the Wyrd which gives the bearer a magical power. By tradition, the Matron of the Kemarr lives with the Windsingers on a huge Windship which roves upon the The Kemarran Highlands.

The Moonclaws are the warrior-women, raised expressly for the purpose of defending the tribe and its borders from the Orin or other enemies. The most elite amongst the Moonclaws are the Daggers of Virtue Only the finest and most worthy Kemarran warrior-women are allowed to join the Daggers. She must vow to remain chaste, untouched by a man, for as long as she lives. To become a Dagger is the highest status, short of Matron, to which a woman can aspire. All Daggers consider themselves to be sisters in everything but blood. No greater crime exists than the killing of one Dagger by another Dagger. The punishment is death.

The Guildsmen are the men of the Kemarr, who are allowed to be herdsmen and craftsmen. Men are highly valued in Kemarran society, within their specific roles. Kemarriana was clever enough at the beginning of her stewardship to deliberately seek out men who wished to be artists, craftsmen, or herdsmen, rather than warriors. She offered them full support for their chosen specialty, plus the comforts and pleasures of Kemarran women, if they would swear to leave the arts of battle and combat to the warrior-women. Consequently, the Kemarrans have done well as traders, bringing to Whitewater Gorge all manner of leatherworking, pottery, textiles, glassmaking, woodcarving, jewelry, plus wool, butter, cheese and meat from their well-fed herds of sheep/goats. The Guildsmen have established numerous Guilds for their areas of responsibility, and there are many levels of rank and status within these, up to the position of Guildmaster.

A warrior-woman who is not a Dagger is free to take a husband and have children as she chooses, though a certain term of service is required of her regardless, either before she marries, or between bearing children. It's not unusual for the father to raise the children for a year at a time as his wife serves her warrior duty. A son who isn't happy with this way of life may ask for a battle inheritance. He will be given weapons, gear and some money, made to swear a vow never to fight a Kemarran, and allowed to seek his way beyond The Kemarran Highlands. Should he regret his choice, he can be readmitted as a Kemarran, though he must work hard to prove he is worthy of it. If he should ever break this vow, and take up arms against a Kemarran, he is immediately outlawed and a blood-price is put on his head. The Kemarrans do not forgive this crime, and will not rest until he is dead.

Disputes which cannot be resolved locally, or which involve the good of the entire Kemarr are brought to the Matron for her judgment. The chosen Matron holds her stewardship for ten years, then a new vote is taken and the same or another Matron is chosen for the next term. Every Kemarran adult in good standing, male and female, has the right of vote. The Matron appoints both women and men to be her advisors, choosing the woman usually from senior warriors in the Daggers of Virtue, and the men from senior masters in the various herding and craft guilds.

The most sacred meeting place of the Kemarr is the Dragon's Maw. Originally, it was a gaping hole in the earth which Kemarriana's successor found. It was apparently bottomless, opening onto a nothingness which they called the Void. The inhabitants of the Floating World don't understand what the Void is, but they know nothing that falls in will ever return from it. It was filled with the power of the Wyrd. To the Kemarran's delight, they found dragonets nesting here, flying into and out of the Void at will. They hired M'Ton and Sarojin stoneworkers to create a temple around this hole, dubbing it the Dragon's Maw. This is where the Kemarrans meet to select a new Matron, to debate a serious matter, celebrate a special festivity, to initiate their young women with a test of courage, or to pass sentence on a criminal. The Kemarrans have three levels of punishment: reparations, exile or death. A death sentence is carried out by forcing the criminal to leap into the Void.

The Moonclaws are charged with protecting it, but it belongs to the Kemarr as a whole. Windsingers spent much of their apprenticeship here, learning to tap into the Wyrd. Another important usage of the Dragon's Maw is to attempt to create a bond with a dragonet. The Kemarrans discovered this could happen by accident when a dragonet bonded with a young Moonclaw during her Initiation. The bonding can only be done by the dragonet and there is no way to predict why or how it will happen. Once the bonding takes place, the dragonet is known as a Familiar. It remains with the Kemarran, gives her magical protection, communicates with her, and dies when she dies. The Kemarrans have long wondered what the Familiar gains from such a bonding.

Other races and genders have tried to attract a Familiar at other places where dragonets nest (the Kemarrans don't allow outsiders to use the Dragon's Maw). A few have succeeded, but it is unusual. The Kemarrans are disturbed to see that less and less bondings have taken place over the last century or so. Once, it was common to see a Kemarran with a Familiar. Now it is such a rare happening that any woman who gains a Familiar is immediately guaranteed a high level of status.

Made it this far? Congratulations. Check back tomorrow, and we'll take a look at how magic works in the Floating World.